The Hawera Star. TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1930. A TESTATOR’S RIGHTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 7 January 1930, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1930. A TESTATOR’S RIGHTS.

Delivered every evening by 6 o’clook in Hawera, Manaia, Kaupokonui, Otakeho, Ooc. Pihama. Opunake, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Ngaere. Hangatoki, ponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Mahoe. Lowgarth, Manutahi, Kakaramea. Alton, Hurleyville. Patea. Whenuakura. Waverley, Mokoia. Whakamara, Cmangai, Meremere. Fraser Road and Ararata

According to a judgment delivered at the last Supremo Court sessions at Dunedin, no longer can a man bequeath property, oven to a sister, with a proviso that her interest must pass to another if she marries. The law holds that anything in restraint of marriage is illegal, and the law will be generally applauded for its common sense. In the case under notice it would appear that the. testator might have achieved his end, without conflicting with the law, by simply providing ihis sister with an interest in the estate during her unmarried state. What the law seems to frown upon is the insertion of conditions in restraint of marriage, and in that respect everybody will agree with the law. As a matter of fact, the law in all countries in regard to wills is gradually being modified and improved, and Now Zealand can claim (credit for very enlightened legislation on the subject. In that respect New Zealand is very much in advance of England. In England to-day a man may .pauperise his widow and bequeath all his possessions to another. Similarly with -children, he is allowed on his death to stop any allowance the law may compel him to make during his lifetime, and he may put the cost of maintenance on to the ratepayers (although if lie were to die intestate both •wi'dow and children would under the .law be provided for). In New Zealand, on the other hand, children as well as •widows who have been cut off entirely may appeal for maintenance, and the law on the subject, so far from increasing litigation, has tended t'o reduce it, I because testators and their legal adivisers know that unreasonable or ' capricious wills .must lead to action, * either in -the way of rectification by the court or voluntary compromise between the beneficiaries and dependants. The trend of legislation in every country, indeed, is to remove gross injustices, provided the alteration does not create a more unsatisfactory position, and the decision .given at Dunedin is significant of the great advance that has been made in the common law.